Top Items:
Ronald A. Cass / realclearpolitics.com:
Judge Alito's Confirmation Battle, The Unitary Executive, and Other News from the Front — After several days at the hearings on Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, it's painfully clear that the Senate hasn't made strides in either civility or understanding of legal issues since the John Roberts hearings a few months ago.
Discussion:
Althouse
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New York Times:
Judge Alito, in His Own Words — Some commentators are complaining that Judge Samuel Alito Jr.'s confirmation hearings have not been exciting, but they must not have been paying attention. We learned that Judge Alito had once declared that Judge Robert Bork - whose Supreme Court nomination …
New York Times:
Democrats Take Aggressive Tack; Alito Is Unfazed — WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 - Democrats tried with increasing frustration on Wednesday to elicit more specific views from Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. about abortion and other topics and sought to build a case against his nomination to the Supreme Court …
Washington Post:
Alito Leaves a Door Open on Roe v. Wade — Membership In Controversial Group Decried By Democrats — The once-sluggish confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. turned confrontational yesterday, as the nominee signaled he might be willing to revisit the ruling …
Sam Alito / TalkLeft:
Sparks Fly at Alito Hearing — We were waiting for some fireworks at Judge Sam Alito's confirmation hearing. Tuesday was definitely dullsville. We wanted sparks to fly. We wanted to hear — Bell's going to ring — Hear the alarms — Better tell the fire chief — To quit playing cards
Sidney Blumenthal / Guardian:
George Bush's rough justice — The career of the latest supreme court nominee has been marked by his hatred of liberalism — "If the president deems that he's got to torture somebody, including by crushing the testicles of the person's child, there is no law that can stop him?"
Neil A. Lewis / New York Times:An Intense Experience for Family Members, Too
Discussion:
Shakespeare's Sister
Jane Hamsher / firedoglake:Subtle — Mrs. Strip Search Sammy sure had herself a Kodak moment today, didn't she?
James Wolcott:THE CRYING GAME
Discussion:
MyDD, Balloon Juice, The Political Teen, Suburban Guerrilla, The Corner on National …, Running Scared and The Sideshow
Richard Cohen / Washington Post:
Loose Lips Sink . . . Biden's Leadership Is Lost in All His Talk — The only thing standing between Joe Biden and the presidency is his mouth. That, though, is no small matter. It is a Himalayan barrier, a Sahara of a handicap, a summer's day in Death Valley, a winter's night at the pole …
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Dale Russakoff / Washington Post:
Alito Disavows Controversial Group — As a Princeton alumnus and professional basketball player, Bill Bradley in 1973 renounced his membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton, calling it a "right wing" organization that opposed the admission of women and minorities to the school.
Peggy Noonan / Opinion Journal:
Biden His Time — Judge Alito's low-affect tour de force. — If everyone in America—the butcher down the block, the college professor, the car mechanic, the mother of two working at home, the CNN analyst—knows that the U.S. senators questioning Sam Alito are posing …
Discussion:
Houston's Clear Thinkers
New York Times:
Local Insurgents Tell of Clashes With Al Qaeda's Forces in Iraq — BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 11 - The story told by the two Iraqi guerrillas cut to the heart of the war that Iraqi and American officials now believe is raging inside the Iraqi insurgency. — In October, the two insurgents said in interviews …
Glen Johnson / Associated Press:
AP Newsbreak: GOP group to give up $500,000 in Abramoff-related donations donations — BOSTON —Days after calling on his party to exhibit higher ethical standards, Gov. Mitt Romney said the Republican Governors Association would donate to charity $500,000 in contributions it received …
Josh White / Washington Post:
General Asserts Right On Self-Incrimination In Iraq Abuse Cases — Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, a central figure in the U.S. detainee-abuse scandal, this week invoked his right not to incriminate himself in court-martial proceedings against two soldiers accused of using dogs to intimidate captives …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, The Heretik, TAPPED, Opinio Juris, War and Piece, The Stakeholder and The Washington Monthly
Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:
More Body Armor Is On the Way for U.S. Troops — The Army announced yesterday that it will soon start producing 230,000 sets of side armor plates and field them over the year to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, after a recently disclosed Pentagon study indicated that such plates …
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CNN:
Hajj stampede kills hundreds — MINA, Saudi Arabia (CNN) — At least 345 people have been killed in a stampede during a symbolic stoning ritual at the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, according to the country's health ministry. — Health Minister Hamad al-Maneh told Saudi TV …
Rick Lyman / New York Times:
Texas Redistricting Is One More Hurdle for DeLay — HOUSTON, Jan. 11 - Representative Tom DeLay is in the toughest re-election campaign of his 11-term House career, a battle that might be decided not only by his legal problems, but also by the Congressional redistricting plan he spearheaded in 2003.
